AI Perspectives #18: Sweden-Ukraine
What Sweden’s Business Leaders Can Learn from Ukraine’s Digital Transformation Under Pressure
Introduction
Sweden is recognized for its advanced digital infrastructure and a strong tradition of innovation, yet many Swedish companies-especially small and medium-sized enterprises struggling to fully embrace artificial intelligence (AI). While the country has the technical foundation and talent to lead, AI adoption often remains slow, fragmented, and confined to isolated projects rather than being embedded into core business strategy. At the same time, Ukraine, faced with the existential pressures of war, has rapidly transformed its digital landscape. For Ukraine, digital tools and AI shifted from being drivers of growth to becoming essential for national survival and resilience.
This striking contrast raises important questions: How did Ukraine manage to accelerate its digital transformation so dramatically under crisis? What practical lessons can Swedish business leaders, policymakers, and communities draw from Ukraine’s experience? And what role can organizations like the Swedish AI Association (AICenter) play in bridging Sweden’s AI adoption gap? In this article, we explore the differences between the two countries’ approaches, highlight the factors that enabled Ukraine’s agility, and outline actionable steps for Sweden to secure its place as a responsible and innovative leader in AI.
1. Sweden’s AI Paradox – Potential Without Progress
Sweden has long been recognized for its technological innovation and robust digital infrastructure. The country possesses a highly educated workforce and a thriving ecosystem of tech startups and established firms. Yet, when it comes to artificial intelligence, this potential is not translating into widespread, strategic adoption-especially among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and at the highest levels of corporate leadership.
Despite the existence of a national AI strategy and supportive EU regulations, AI integration in Sweden often remains superficial. Many organizations view AI as a tool for isolated technical improvements rather than as a core driver of business transformation. As a result, AI projects tend to be led by technical teams, with limited involvement from executives or boards. This disconnect means that AI’s potential to reshape business models, unlock new value, and drive competitiveness is left largely untapped.
For SMEs in particular, the barriers are significant. Practical support is often lacking, and many smaller companies are left to navigate the complexities of AI adoption on their own. The absence of accessible resources, targeted guidance, and coordinated networks makes it difficult for these businesses to move beyond experimentation and achieve meaningful, organization-wide impact.
Without decisive action to address these gaps, Swedish companies risk falling behind in the rapidly evolving global AI landscape. The challenge is not a lack of talent or infrastructure, but rather the need for a strategic shift in how AI is understood, prioritized, and implemented across all sectors of the economy.
2. Ukraine’s Digital Acceleration – Necessity as a Catalyst
Before the full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine was already recognized as a major IT outsourcing hub, serving clients around the world and generating billions in tech exports each year. The government had laid important groundwork for digital modernization, most notably through the creation of the Ministry of Digital Transformation in 2019. This ministry spearheaded initiatives like the Diia platform, which digitized over a hundred government services and made them accessible to citizens via smartphone.
The outbreak of war, however, transformed digital transformation from a growth strategy into a matter of national survival. The Ministry of Digital Transformation and its network of Chief Digital Transformation Officers (CDTOs) across ministries, regional governments, and military offices became essential to Ukraine’s wartime resilience. These leaders coordinated efforts to deploy AI and digital tools for a range of critical needs: defense logistics, drone operations, and open-source intelligence (OSINT), as well as maintaining vital citizen services like identification, benefits, and humanitarian aid.
This urgency drove rapid experimentation and adoption. Public-private partnerships flourished, and digital solutions became lifelines for both displaced populations and frontline responders. Internet penetration soared, and the culture around technology shifted from optional to essential. Ukraine’s ability to blend pre-war strategic planning with wartime necessity resulted in a digital infrastructure that is not only robust but also highly adaptive and resilient.
In just a few years, Ukraine has evolved from a country with limited OSINT culture to one of the world’s most advanced practitioners, embedding AI across defense, public services, and economic recovery. The crisis-driven agility and willingness to experiment at scale set Ukraine apart and offer powerful lessons for nations seeking to accelerate their own digital transformation.
3. Comparing Sweden and Ukraine
While both Sweden and Ukraine have invested heavily in digital infrastructure and technology, their paths to adopting artificial intelligence reveal important differences shaped by context, urgency, and leadership. Sweden, despite its peace and prosperity, tends to approach AI with caution and gradualism. Integration of AI often remains limited to technical teams, and broader adoption across organizations progresses slowly, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises and at the executive level. Leadership engagement is frequently fragmented or reactive, and practical support for smaller businesses is inconsistent, resulting in AI projects that are often isolated rather than transformative.
In contrast, Ukraine’s experience under the extreme pressures of war has driven a rapid and coordinated digital transformation. For Ukraine, digitalization and AI became essential for national survival, not just growth. The government’s strong coordination, combined with a culture of urgency and cross-sector collaboration, made it possible to embed AI across public and private sectors. AI was not just a technical upgrade but a core part of defense, logistics, public services, and economic resilience. Community engagement and public-private partnerships became central to this transformation, with digital solutions quickly scaled to meet immediate needs.
The difference between the two countries is not simply a matter of resources. It is rooted in mindset, governance, and the ability to mobilize all parts of society around a shared goal. Sweden’s incremental and risk-averse stance has left much of AI’s potential untapped, while Ukraine’s crisis-driven agility and willingness to experiment have accelerated the adoption of AI as a strategic and operational necessity. This contrast highlights how urgency, leadership, and coordinated action can shape the depth and impact of digital transformation.
4. Lessons for Sweden – A Roadmap for Change
Sweden’s journey toward effective AI adoption can be accelerated by learning from Ukraine’s experience, where urgency, coordination, and community engagement have driven rapid digital transformation. The following roadmap outlines how Swedish business leaders, policymakers, and the AICenter can reshape the national approach to AI.
Make AI a Board-Level Priority
AI must be elevated from a technical concern to a core strategic issue for boards and executive teams. Swedish companies need to ensure that their leadership is not only literate in AI but also actively involved in setting clear transformation goals and aligning incentives with digital outcomes. The AICenter can support this shift by developing targeted executive education programs, helping leaders understand and integrate AI into long-term business strategy.
Adopt a Culture of Experimentation
Ukraine’s crisis-driven agility highlights the importance of acting decisively and learning through rapid iteration. Swedish organizations should embrace controlled AI pilots and create environments where cross-functional teams can experiment, adapt, and scale successful solutions. The AICenter’s Total Governance (TG) Model and TG Mark offer a structured framework for responsible experimentation, balancing innovation with transparency and accountability.
Build Practical Support Networks
For many Swedish SMEs, the path to AI adoption is hindered by limited resources, skills gaps, and uncertainty about trustworthy implementation. Sweden needs a coordinated support system that goes beyond technical advice to include clear governance pathways and peer collaboration. The AICenter is positioned to serve as a national hub, providing TG-aligned toolkits, case studies, matchmaking with AI experts, and access to a network of TG-marked initiatives. This ecosystem empowers SMEs to move from isolated pilots to strategic, well-governed AI integration.
Embed Governance and Accountability
Sweden must move past vague ethical declarations and voluntary principles, focusing instead on enforceable governance that delivers measurable accountability and societal benefit. The limitations of “Ethical AI” and “Responsible AI” are well documented: these concepts are often ambiguous and susceptible to ethics-washing. The AICenter’s TG Model and TG Mark provide a concrete, auditable approach to AI governance, ensuring that organizations can demonstrate alignment with principles of transparency, fairness, and adaptability.
Engage the Community
Ukraine’s transformation was powered not just by top-down directives but by mobilizing civil society and the broader tech community. Sweden can benefit from similar grassroots engagement, ensuring that local communities, SMEs, and diverse stakeholders have a voice in shaping the national AI agenda. The AICenter’s initiatives create accessible spaces for open dialogue, knowledge sharing, and collaborative learning, embedding public input into the heart of Sweden’s AI journey.
By following this roadmap, Sweden can address its current barriers to AI adoption and build a future where innovation, governance, and community engagement work hand in hand.
Conclusion
Sweden stands at a crossroads in its AI journey. The nation has the talent, infrastructure, and innovative spirit to lead, but progress is slowed by cultural inertia, fragmented governance, and a lack of coordinated support for SMEs and business leaders. Ukraine’s experience demonstrates that even under the most challenging circumstances, rapid and coordinated digital transformation is not only possible but essential for resilience and growth.
To bridge Sweden’s AI adoption gap and secure a leadership position in responsible, innovative AI, a new approach is needed, one that is grounded in enforceable, transparent, and pragmatic governance rather than abstract ethical declarations. The Total Governance (TG) Model and TG Mark, championed by the AICenter, provide this foundation: setting clear standards for accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement across all sectors.
By making AI a board-level strategic priority, embedding Total Governance (TG), and mobilizing both business and community stakeholders, Sweden can move beyond incremental progress and unlock the full potential of AI. With decisive action and collective commitment, Sweden can build an AI ecosystem that is not only globally competitive but also trusted, resilient, and aligned with the needs and values of its society.